This RPG Is most discussed game of 2016 even ahead of Overwatch and Pokemon Go

The most discussed game this year wasn’t even released this year. Second place went to Overwatch, and Pokemon Go managed to beat the buzzer the slide into third… But have you played #1?

Undertale is an indie RPG created using the GameMaker: Studio engine, it has a perfect 10/10 score on Steam, it’s available on Windows, iOS, and Linux, and it’s quietly been making waves. Tumblr released their year-end round-up of most discussed games, and it looks a little bit different than you might expect. This list isn’t based on sales, or ratings, or anything other than how many people were talking about each title on Tumblr in 2016.

Toby Fox is the one-man-army behind Undertale, and aside from some extra art contributed by others, he handled nearly all of it.

From design, to art, to composing the music as a self-taught musician, Toby handled it all. This game was funded by a Kickstarter campaign that originally had a goal of $5,000 but ended up earning over ten-times that much.

Inspiration for Undertale comes from the games Mother and the Mario & Luigi RPG series, along with bullet-hell shooter Touhou Project. The combat mechanics are a little bit different than you’re used to…

image: theawesomer.com

During battle, you’ve got a small heart in a box, and you’ve got to move it around to avoid enemy attacks.

image: grayraidenreviews

The reviews for this cult-hit have been stellar, with an aggregate score of 92 on Metacritic and perfect 10’s from Destructoid, IGN, Giant Bomb, US Gamer, and more. It’s not just Tumblr that loves Undertale.

Undertale received praise for the uniqueness of each enemy encounter and the nuances of a seemingly-simple battle system. Fox has said he wanted enemies to feel more unique than in other popular RPGs:

“all monsters in RPGs like Final Fantasy are the same … there’s no meaning to that” – Toby Fox

Here’s the full Top 16:

Undertale

Overwatch

Pokemon GO

Mystic Messenger

Pokemon Sun and Moon

The Sims 4

Fire Emblem Fates

Fallout 4

Neko Atsume: Kitty Collector

League of Legends

Kingdom Hearts

Dragon Age: Inquisition

Splatoon

Mass Effect

Life is Strange

Five Nights at Freddy’s

Some of those entries are a bit surprising, some are less surprising when you find out this list is based on Tumblr’s demographics (We aren’t seeing a lot of kitten-collecting games on other year-end roundups…) Great games from a few years ago seem to stick around a bit longer on their list too which is interesting. In case you’re wondering: Mystic Messenger is an Otome dating sim.